The new opposition leader on Bury Council has pledged to oppose green belt development in the borough as his group ‘holds Labour to account’.
Coun Russell Bernstein, 63, who was re-elected as a councillor for Pilkington Park on May 5, was elected by Bury Tory group to succeed Coun Nick Jones, who stepped down from the role after disappointing election results which saw the party’s number of seats drop from 15 to 12.
Coun Bernstein, who is the younger brother of former Manchester City Council chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein, had a 37 year career in the public sector which included being the chief executive at the Greater Manchester Police and Commissioner’s office.
His career included periods at Trafford Borough Council between 1977 and 1989 and Salford City Council between 1989 and 2007.
He is a governor at Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School and Philips High School and also secretary of the Manchester Jewish Soccer League.
Read more: Sweet reason why Morrisons is giving free cornflower seeds for Queen's Platinum Jubilee
Coun Bernstein, said: “My aspirations and priorities as leader are for Bury Conservatives to be a constructive and challenging opposition group which holds Eamonn O’Brien and the Labour administration to account on behalf of the people of Bury.
“I intend to do this objectively and not to be afraid of saying when Eamonn and his team do something well. Also to take the fight to Radcliffe First and to hold them account for their actions and treat them with the same vigour that we challenge all our political opponents.
“My priorities as leader are to ensure that social cohesion in Bury is maintained at the strong levels it is, ensuring special needs education provision in the borough improves, making the case for maintaining our precious greenbelt is not built on and advocating strongly for clean air without the need to tax businesses. The other obvious priority is to start winning back seats on the council as soon as is practical.”
Following the change of leadership newly elected Coun Jo Lancaster will be deputy leader and shadow cabinet member for environment and highways, while Coun Dene Vernon will chair the overview and scrutiny committee take the lead on communities.
Coun Liam Dean has been appointed to the shadow cabinet as member for culture and economy, Roger Brown health, Khalid Hussain for housing, Luis McBriar for children and young people and Shahbaz Arif as chief whip.
To get the latest email updates from the Manchester Evening News, click here.
